Strong British showing at Trofeo Vanoni
The women's race gets underway
As an event twinned with the International Snowdon Race – the town of Morbegno is also twinned with Llanberis – the Welsh link to this excellent Italian mountain race is apparent, and last weekend’s event produced some great results UK runners…
After their winning performances at Snowdon in July, Robbie Simpson and Catriona Buchanan won the right (along with Pippa Maddams, Ian Holmes and Rod Baker) to represent their respective countries at the Trofeo Vanoni.
Robbie romped to the U23 win, against some stiff European competition, and was the first British runner home in 13th place overall. The race was won by France mountain star Julien Rancon, who ran away with the race to win by over a minute from fellow Frenchman Emmanuel Mayssat.
Julien Rancon
Simpson was chased home by Mercia’s Andy Davies in 17th, Ian Holmes 20th, Rod Baker 31st, Richard Roberts 35th and Matt Gilbert in 54th, to complete a good showing by the British men’s contingent.
In the women’s race Pippa Maddams showed immense quality to finish just nine seconds behind Poland’s Mariola Sodja, for a superb silver medal. Buchanan was 7th overall, again winning the U23 class easily. Shrewsbury AC’s Anna Bartlett had a great run in 8th just ahead of fellow Welsh runner Jackie Lee (9th). Sarah Ridgway was 11th completing an excellent showing for the Welsh women’s team.
Additional reporting is now online at the WMRA site, with images here...
Mariola Sodja
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Reactions so far
Dylan Jones Oct 28, 12:35 PM
well done to all the Brits,
has the race format changed?it sounds like a one off race,mass start cos it used to be a 3 man team relay